The voluntary retirement of senior IAS officer Syed Ali Murtuza Rizvi on October 22, nearly a decade before his superannuation, has snowballed into a major political controversy in Telangana. His exit, reportedly following a rift with Excise Minister Jupally Krishna Rao over tenders for liquor bottle hologram labels has drawn sharp political reactions across party lines.
BJP Terms It ‘Harassment of Bureaucracy’
Union Minister Bandi Sanjay Kumar reacted sharply to the development, saying that the voluntary retirement of IAS officer S.A.M. Rizvi reflects how Telangana’s bureaucracy is being crushed between corrupt politics and blame games.
In a post on X, he remarked that while Rizvi may describe his decision as personal, the circumstances surrounding it suggest otherwise. Telangana, he said, deserves to know why an honest and efficient officer was compelled to take such a step.
IAS officer S.A.M. Rizvi’s VRS exposes how Telangana’s bureaucracy is being crushed between corrupt politics and blame games.
He may call it a personal choice, but it doesn’t look like one.
Telangana deserves to know why an honest and efficient officer was forced to take this…— Bandi Sanjay Kumar (@bandisanjay_bjp) October 23, 2025
The Minister alleged that the Congress government has been running the administration through intimidation, harassing officers who refuse to serve personal or political interests. He further accused ministers of interfering in tender processes, bending rules for favoured companies, and blaming upright officers when exposed.
Drawing parallels with the previous BRS regime, Bandi Sanjay said that the pattern of political pressure on bureaucrats was not new. He recalled how former Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao had humiliated officers by making them face the Kaleshwaram project probe, and how his son K.T. Rama Rao shifted blame onto bureaucrats in the Formula E case to cover up his own blunders.
He asserted that the Congress government has now picked up where BRS left off, targeting honest officers while protecting its favourites. According to him, this is not governance but harassment disguised as administration, and an open display of protectionism towards corruption.
Echoing his remarks, BJP Rajya Sabha MP and OBC Morcha National President Dr K. Laxman said Rizvi’s resignation “raises serious questions about how the Congress government is functioning”.
“The State Government must explain why such a senior officer was compelled to take VRS. If ministers cannot make officers yield to pressure, do they choose to sacrifice them instead? Harassing officers for personal benefit is not governance but abuse of power,” Dr Laxman said.
He cautioned that senior officials were being humiliated under the guise of inquiries and asked why the government had remained silent all these days if Rizvi was indeed at fault.
KTR Calls Congress Regime a ‘Circus’
BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao accused the Congress government of plunging Telangana into administrative chaos.
“In Telangana, senior IAS officer Rizvi was forced to seek voluntary retirement after resisting pressure from the Excise Minister to favour a company for a Rs 500 crore tender,” he alleged.
కాంగ్రెస్ దండుపాళ్యం ముఠానే రాష్ట్రాన్ని నడిపిస్తున్నది. ఆ దండుపాళ్యం ముఠాకి నాయకుడు రేవంత్ రెడ్డి.
కాంగ్రెస్ నాయకుల అవినీతికి ప్రభుత్వ అధికారులు కూడా భయపడుతున్నారు.
వాళ్ళ వాటాల పంచాయతీలో మాకు భాగస్వామ్యం వద్దు, మాకు సంబంధం లేదంటూ ఐఏఎస్ అధికారులు పారిపోతున్నారు.
ఐఏఎస్, ఐపీఎస్… pic.twitter.com/YEl7J3EhtH
— BRS Party (@BRSparty) October 23, 2025
KTR claimed that conflicts involved the Chief Minister’s office and relatives of ministers, with industrialists reportedly threatened by aides carrying pistols.
“Ministers are openly clashing over tenders — this is not governance, it’s chaos. Congress yaha sarkar nahi, circus chala rahi hai,” he said.
Congress Dismisses Allegations as Political Spin
Reacting to the row, Ch. Dayakar, TPCC General Secretary, maintained that Rizvi’s decision was “purely personal” and not influenced by political factors.
“Rizvi’s voluntary retirement is his own decision. Dragging the government into it is unnecessary,” he said.
Dayakar turned the attack on opposition parties, citing corruption under the BRS regime.
“During BRS rule, Gurukulam Secretary RS Praveen Kumar committed several irregularities and resigned for political ambitions. KCR’s PRO Vijay Kumar was involved in Rs 500 crore land deals, KTR should answer that first,” he said.
He also accused KTR of promoting a toxic culture during his tenure as minister.
“When KTR was a minister, he encouraged the drugs culture. Has he forgotten the Jubilee Hills rape case that shook Hyderabad? He must answer before accusing others,” Dayakar added.
The Congress leader further accused BRS of hypocrisy. “They insulted IAS officers, made them bow down, and discarded them when they refused to cooperate. They have no moral ground to talk about bureaucratic respect,” he said.
Tender Controversy Behind the Turmoil
According to sources, Rizvi’s resignation came amid escalating tensions between two senior Congress leaders over the Rs 100-crore tender for high-security holograms and 2D barcode labels — used to prevent counterfeit liquor.
The same company has reportedly held the contract since 2013, when Telangana was part of undivided Andhra Pradesh. Despite tenders being called during KCR’s regime to bring in new technology, the process was stalled under the Congress government, which later reawarded the deal to the old supplier.
Reports suggest Rizvi resisted pressure to favour certain companies with political links, leading to his fallout with the Excise Minister.
Excise Minister Jupally Krishna Rao lodged a formal complaint with the Chief Secretary against then Principal Secretary (Excise) S.A.M. Rizvi, alleging that he had deliberately delayed the tender process for High-Security Holograms affixed to liquor bottles. The minister claimed that Rizvi’s inaction effectively enabled the existing vendor, who has been supplying since 2019, to continue without competition.
Frequent Transfers, Mounting Pressure
Rizvi’s career trajectory over the past year reflects increasing instability. Within 12 months, he was transferred from Health Secretary to Energy, Commercial Taxes, Excise, and most recently, General Administration (Political).
He was reportedly facing yet another transfer when allegations surfaced that letters targeting him were being leaked from the Excise Minister’s office to sympathetic media outlets.
